Yaroslav the Wise - Grand Prince of Kiev. During his reign, Kievan Rus reached the highest power and international recognition. With the family of Yaroslav the Wise, the noblest royal courts of Europe wanted to become related.
The prince’s nickname “Wise” is explained by his legislative and educational activities. Everyone was delighted that the prince himself read books, at that time it was a real miracle of learning. He created a library of Greek and Russian books, which was transferred to St. Sophia Cathedral to ensure general accessibility. Yaroslav sought to spread literacy everywhere, and therefore the clergy was instructed to educate children. The opening of the Novgorod school by the prince to three hundred boys in the XI century caused as much admiration as the opening of the first university could have caused. Prince Yaroslav the Wise gave the Slavonic lands the first handwritten law - "Russian Truth."
Prince Yaroslav the Wise understood that the state will be able to achieve power through stability and peace, and not through impartial civil wars. The active energy accumulated in the masses must be directed to mutually beneficial trade, economic prosperity, friendship with neighbors, the promotion of crafts, arts, and construction.
The foreign policy of Yaroslav is also successful. In 1030, he made a trip to the Chud tribe, built the city of Yuryev there. The defeat he inflicted on the Pechenegs in 1036 was so devastating that they never again appeared on the territory of the state of Kiev. After three years of struggle with Byzantium, in which the princely army was defeated, a peace favorable to Kiev was concluded. Byzantium released the prisoners, confirmed the privileges established earlier.
The zealous piety of the prince did not prevent him from thinking about state benefits in church affairs. When Yaroslav sensed the approach of death, he called his children together and gave them prudential instructions, wishing to prevent any strife between them. In the annals, Yaroslav earned the name of the wise sovereign who returned Russia to the lands lost in the civil strife, showing genuine love for his people.
